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Martina Navratilova and Julia Lemigova are married

Martina Navratilova, left, and Julia Lemigova got married Monday in New York City.
(Frazer Harrison / Getty Images)
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Martina Navratilova and girlfriend Julia Lemigova were married Monday in New York City

“I’m 58 years old, and I got married for the first time,” the nine-time Wimbledon winner told the BBC, confirming the news shortly after tying the knot in a small private ceremony. “It’s about time, right?”

The two said “I do” at the Peninsula hotel a little more than three months after Navratilova’s proposal to the mother of two and former Miss U.S.S.R. at the U.S. Open.

The early September proposal was a Jumbotron moment, according to People: The tennis star, at the Open to do color commentary on the men’s matches, was being interviewed herself when she stopped the chat, dropped to one knee and offered her girlfriend, 42, a diamond-studded engagement ring.

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A “yes” and a Champagne toast followed, the mag said.

The two have been a couple since 2006 and were photographed together in public for the first time in 2009, according to the Daily Mail.

Younger Americans might know Navratilova better as a short-lived “Dancing With the Stars” contestant than as a tennis great and public pioneer in the LGBT community.

At the 1975 U.S. Open, when she was 18, Navratilova defected to the United States from her native Czechoslovakia, which was then under Soviet control. Shortly after becoming a U.S. citizen in 1981, the Czech native came out as bisexual and then later identified herself as a lesbian.

Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs.

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